New anthrax scare at US Federal Reserve

A U.S. official today said there was a "very good likelihood" that traces of anthrax found in mail sent to an outside Federal Reserve facility could prove to be false positives or cross-contamination from earlier incidents.

"(There is) is a very good likelihood this is a false positive ... (or) cross-contamination," said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition that he not be identified.

The Federal Reserve earlier today confirmed traces of anthrax were found in about 20 pieces of its mail in an outside facility, the second time the central bank has been exposed to the deadly bacteria that killed five people in the United States last year.

"Routine preliminary tests, administered late Tuesday and Wednesday by board and contract employees wearing protective environmental suits, detected anthrax spores in small batches of mail totaling about 20 pieces," the Fed said in a statement.

"The affected mail was routine commercial and business mail and did not have any of the characteristics identified by the FBI as suspicious."

The mail that tested positive this week bore April and May postmarks and was addressed to a variety of Fed personnel, including some to Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan.

A Fed spokesman said the spores were found in mail distributed from the Fed's external mail facility and added that later tests were negative for anthrax in the mailroom and mail distribution points within the Fed's three buildings.

While the Fed is still accepting mail, distribution was suspended on Wednesday.

Since October, the Fed has been testing its mail on a routine basis. In December, the central bank also saw a positive test result but said that was "believed to have been the result of cross-contamination" from other mail.

Follow-up testing after that incident showed no other positive results.

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